


Revenge Is All I Haven't Lost

by SammysMissingShoe



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Sam Winchester, Lucifer's Cage (Supernatural), Prompt Fic, Sam Winchester in Lucifer's Cage, Torture, Tortured Sam Winchester, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-05-16 05:05:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19311199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SammysMissingShoe/pseuds/SammysMissingShoe
Summary: A Cage fic with gratuitous hurt!Sam told from Lucifer's point of view (not first-person though) where my readers get to request prompts of what they'd like to see happen next!Ch 2: "... allowing himself to pray that his brother is about to burst through those doors. But like the rest of his life, his prayers remain unanswered."





	1. How Could This Really Have Happened

**Author's Note:**

> So this is not the sequel to Falling Inside the Black, but is instead a piece I wished to write in order to challenge myself. I knew I wanted to write something again, so naturally the idea of a Cage fic comes to mind, but in order to make it a little more difficult, I wanted to stray away from third-person omniscient, and instead wanted to do third-person limited, but from Lucifer's point of view, which has drastically shifted the entire tone of this story, and so far I am living for it. Hopefully you like the short start to what I hope becomes something a little longer of a story! More details to follow in my later author's note.

There came a point where Lucifer stopped keeping track of days, and is now starting to mark the time by Sam's screams. Makes things go by much faster that way. He's at 342 right now, and counting.

"I really only wanted the best for us. For you, Sammy." The Devil purrs as he adjusts the barbed wire coiled around Sam's wrist with a sharp yank.

343.

"You really got dealt a crappy hand from the start, but still everyone's always made everything  _your_ fault."

By 'everyone' Lucifer clearly means Dean, but Lucifer banned that name from being spoken long ago. Saying it gives the kid hope, so ugh, gross. Not that Sam can say it right now even if he wants to, not with the spiked chains encircling his whole head. Sure, Lucifer thought about simply snapping the boy's voice away, but then Lucifer won't be able to hear him scream. And if he can't hear Sam scream, then he has to think about the days. The endless, never-ending days. Eternity trapped back in this forsaken Cage. All because of one, stupid kid-

344.

Great, now he's screaming for no reason- oh wait, no, Lucifer is accidentally amputating Sam's wrist.

"Oh, my bad." Lucifer eases the grip he didn't realise he had been maintaining. "Where was I? Oh yeah. We could've been amazing, we could've been something  _beautiful,_ Sammy." The Devil's voice is a soft whisper in Sam's ear now. "The world that turned its back on you so many times, we could've made it burn."

Sam is panting now, Lucifer figures Sam knows how this ends, with more pain. And sure, he's right, but the anticipation of how and when is always its own fun, little game.

"But," Lucifer begins a casual stroll around Sam's occasionally struggling body. Sam's head tries to track his movements, but he barely manages so much as a twitch before the chains stop him. "Someone decided that that wasn't good enough." Lucifer slowly grips the top of the wire around Sam's less brutalised arm, giving it a slight tug until Sam whimpers in pain. "Someone decided to save the world that would throw him away the first chance it got. Does that make much sense to you?"

Sam gives an airy huff, as though he wished to protest, but the kid had his time of being bold when he jumped in here. No, now it's Lucifer's turn.

"You ruined  _everything!"_ With that, Lucifer yanks on the wire, not even feeling it when the barbs inject themselves into his skin. Instead, he chooses to relish in that blood that rains down upon his face, along with choked off yet glorious scream number 345. He doesn't ease up until he hears a  _crack_  followed by the chain springing loose. Lucifer's eyes follow the wet  _thud_ that follows and looks down to see Sam's left hand fallen on the ground. It gives one last desperate twitch before stilling completely. Sam continues howling in pain in the background, and Lucifer briefly ponders if he should make an exception for screams that last longer than three seconds. Should they count for two? Eh, who cares, a scream is a scream, and a scream means he's winning.

For the rest of eternity, Lucifer is winning.

Still livid, Lucifer grabs Sam's face, digging in his nails until Sam whimpers. "And was it worth it?"

Lucifer's asked this before, and he'll keep asking until Sam gives the answer he wants.

But as Sam snarls beneath the chains and Lucifer's grip, Lucifer realises that this won't be the time that Sam's answer changes. Instead, the boy grits his teeth, blood trickling from his mouth, and he gives a nod. Ugh, the determination on this kid is almost admirable if it wasn't so annoying.

Lucifer huffs and rolls his eyes. Sure, he's irritated, but if there's one thing he isn't short on here, it's time. If Sam breaks too soon, then the rest of eternity is gonna get real boring real quick.

So for now, Lucifer will just have to find other ways to pass the time.


	2. One Second Life Was Looking Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam gets captured by hunters that want him to use his powers. And then when Dean and eventually Lucifer show up- well, that's when things really get crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, all! Sorry it took me so long to get to this next chapter, but I had gone into this fic with a different idea in mind than what some requests had suggested. Originally I wanted all chapters in one way or another to take place in the Cage, but when I saw this request I decided to give you guys what you wanted, so if you have already requested a story that doesn't take place in Lucifer's Cage, I will still happily write it for you, but for future requests I think it would be a fun writing exercise for me if I got to keep it in that category. Onto the actual prompt, this one was from guest Cheryl:
> 
> "I would love to read a story about hunters capturing Sam and Dean after Lucifer is set free from his cage. However... I would like to see some things changed a bit from the real story line. The hunters find out about Sam's powers and his addiction from demons like in the real story line. However...I think it would be cool if Dean finds out about Sammy drinking demon blood and using his powers while they are captured. They want Sam to demonstrate his powers so they can decide whether or not he needs to die or whether they can control/use him to fight demons. The hunters try to force Sam to confess his sins to Dean, but either way they know it's only a matter of time before Sam needs more blood or he'll start detoxing. Maybe Lucifer ends up finding them, and rescues Sam... only to kidnap him and try to force him to say "yes".
> 
> Sneak Peek: "… allowing himself to pray for just a moment that his brother is about to burst through those doors.
> 
> But just like the rest of his life, his prayers remain unanswered."
> 
> This takes place right after Dean is rescued by Cas from Zachariah in 5x04 The End, but Sam and Dean have not reunited quite yet. It'll make sense when we get to the section where Dean comes in. With all that out of the way, we can finally get into the story!

Sam isn't sure why he stays at the bar after Tim and Reggie had attacked him. Maybe he feels like he's scared them off. Or part of him feels like he deserves the chance to defend himself if anyone tries to blame him for everything that's happening. Maybe if he can convince them that he didn't mean to start the apocalypse then maybe he'll believe it too.

Either way, he's still quite surprised when Tim and Reggie show up again only days later, but they look a lot more prepared to take Sam on.

"Hey, Sam." Says Tim.

"Tim. Reggie." Sam greets. "We really gonna do this, guys?"

"Don't play the victim here, you just brought this on yourself. You screwed over a lot of people, you're the reason people are dying. You're gonna get what's coming to you."

"You gonna kill me?" Sam asks, wondering what would happen to him. Will Lucifer keep his promise to bring him back, or will he simply drag him into Hell to try to torture a 'yes' out of him?

Reggie chuckles. "Nah, too easy. We're gonna get justice, and answers. We want to know how to stop the apocalypse."

Sam huffs. "If I knew, you really think it'd still be happening? I don't want this anymore than you do."

"You said it yourself, Sam. Demons lie."

Sam takes a step back at that comment. "I- I'm not a demon."

"But you ain't exactly human either, are you? You see anyone else killing demons with their mind 'round here?"

"Enough talking." Reggie butts in. "We're moving out, and you're either walking or crawling." He says, lowering his gun to aim at Sam's right knee. "Your move."

Sam loses either way, but if he's going to escape later, he's going to need his legs working, so he makes up his mind and walks towards the pair, tensing only when they bind his arms behind his back with coarse rope. It's only a second later that a gun slams into the back of his head, and knocks him out cold.

* * *

He fell asleep restrained, and wakes up even more so. He's tied to a chair with expertly knotted rope around his hands and feet. When Sam surveys the room he sees Tim and Reggie already guarding him. Sam tenses, testing the strength of the bonds, not surprised when he finds no give. He sighs, resigning to his fate, but he attempts to appeal to their humanity one last time.

"You don't have to do this. We're on the same side." He tries.

Tim scoffs. "You changed sides the second you started drinking demon blood, freak."

Sam shuts his eyes at the biting remark. "I know." He admits with defeat. "But I haven't touched that stuff since all this happened, and I'm never going back."

"See, that's where you're wrong, Sammy." Reggie jumps in. "You  _are_ gonna touch that stuff, and you're gonna kill every damn monster that we tell you to. Or else."

Sam scoffs this time. "So you're gonna torture me for using my powers, and then you're gonna make me use them to fight demons?"

Tim chuckles. "Sounds about right, yeah."

Hypocrites. Sam's lip twitches in annoyance.

"Now," Tim says, stepping forward. "I've got a little theory that needs testing." He reaches into his pocket, and flicks open a knife.

Sam can't help but flinch and start to struggle. He's been cut up in his life more times than he can count, but it's still always far from a pleasant experience. His minimal thrashing does nothing to prevent Tim from advancing on him and promptly slicing into him with the blade. Sam does little more than breathe harshly through his clenched teeth as the knife delicately carves into his flesh.

"Happy?" Sam grunts as Tim pulls away.

Tim only chuckles. Then he shoves a fistful of salt into the gash he'd just made on Sam's arm, and Sam can't help but cry out at the immense pain.

"See?!" Tim says to Reggie as he gestures at Sam. "He reacted to it!"

Sam scoffs again, though the underlying pain beneath the irritation is heard too. "Yeah, so would anyone whose open wound you just shoved a bunch of salt into."

"He's got a point." Reggie admits. "Not saying he doesn't deserve it, but it doesn't really prove anything."

Sam rolls his eyes.

Tim chuckles again. "That was just confirming what I already knew. This is where it gets interesting." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a flask. He then proceeds to dump its contents on Sam's arm. And it  _burns._ Sam feels his blood boiling at the contact of whatever was in there. The wound soon feels feverishly hot, as though the skin is being shredding open, flayed one nerve at a time.

"Any guesses as to what that was?"

" _Acid."_ Sam thinks bitterly, but instead all he says is, "Eat me."

Tim laughs at him. "That was holy water, Sammy-boy."

Sam's eyes shoot wide open at that. That- that couldn't be true. Is his blood really that tainted?

A rough gripping his chin pulls him from his thoughts.

"You're a monster." Tim hisses at him, and after what he's just seen, Sam can't bring himself to disagree.

"But we're gonna give you a chance to do some good with those powers, Sam. Didn't you say we were on the same side? This is your chance to prove it."

Sam tenses. They make a valid point, but unfortunately it was an  _old_ valid point. He'd convinced himself once before that he could do good with his demon blood powers, but look at where that got him. He isn't about to fall for it again.

"No." He says firmly. "You want me to kill demons, fine, but not like that."

Reggie sighs, seemingly disappointed, while Tim appears to be the exact opposite as he eagerly slides on a pair of brass knuckles.

"Can't say I'm surprised to hear that that's your answer," Tim's standing in front of Sam now. "But luckily, I'm also prepared to convince you otherwise."

It's then that Sam braces himself for one hell of a punch, and one hell of a night.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Castiel asks as Dean pulls out his phone. He thinks that Dean would want to rest after having just time traveled and watched himself die.

"Something I should have done in the first place." Dean answers as he enters Sam's number, and he waits for his brother to pick up. It's much to Dean's surprise that another voice answers the phone instead.

"Dean?"

Dean's instantly on high-alert. Sam wouldn't just give up his phone, so he's suspicious of the man on the other end of the call.

"Who is this? And where's my brother?"

"Thank God you called, there's been an accident."

Dean's heart plummets. One of the few times he'd ever abandoned his brother, and now he's probably hurt because of him. "What happened?"

"Asked him for some help on a hunt, witch hit him with a curse and he won't wake up. You should get down here and help us figure out how to undo the spell."

"On my way." Dean says, and then hangs up.

"What happened to Sam?" Asks Castiel.

"Some kind of hunting accident, I gotta get to Sam."

"I could fly you there if you like." He offers.

Dean considers it, but then a text message arrives with the location, and Dean discovers that he isn't far. "Don't worry about it, Cas, I'll take care of it. I'll let you know if I can't find out how to fix the curse."

Castiel nods, and then wordlessly vanishes, and not a second later Dean is hurrying into the Impala, towards his brother.

* * *

"Thank you, Dean." Tim says as the hunter hangs up. He texts Dean the address, and looks across the room to where the other Winchester is sitting, sporting a black eye, split lip, and likely broken cheekbone. He smirks as Sam jerks forward in his bonds, despite how it causes the blade that's resting on the boy's neck to cut open the skin. A muffled cry escapes past Reggie's hand which is tightly clamped over Sam's mouth.

"Good news, kid!" Tim slaps a hand to Sam's shoulder, the one he'd cut up earlier. "Dean is on his way to come save you. I think he'll be real helpful in getting you- open to our way of thinking. What an unexpected surprise!"

Sam shakes his head free of Reggie's hold, locking a cold, hard glare at Tim. "Go to hell."

"Only one that's gonna burn here is you. But luckily, your brother won't be joining us quite yet, so we've got just enough time for what we had planned for later. Reggie, get it set up." Reggie gives a nod, and then heads out of Sam's sightline.

"I told you," Sam lifts his head, the taste of blood ever-present with each harsh word. "You can do whatever you want to me, I won't drink the blood."

Tim laughs again. Sam's really growing to detest that sound. "Oh, I heard you loud and clear, kid."

A faint squeaking echoes in the distance, drawing closer and closer until Reggie at last rounds the door with some kind of pole on wheels, and that's when Sam's stomach begins to churn with unease.

"At least not without a little taste first."

When Reggie pulls out the I.V bag the smell hits Sam so hard that he gags.

"Don't do this." Sam demands softly. He's never ingested demon blood this way before, who knows what it'll do to him? Not to mention that he can't go through this. Not again.

But his hopeless thoughts do nothing to impede the hunters from hooking him up to the mobile I.V station.

"Don't!" He says more forcefully, but also more panicked, desperate. He only stopped thrashing once they inserted the needle into the back of his hand, beginning the process of transfusing all the demon blood into his system.

"We'll be back to check on you every so often to change the bag." Tim announces, but Sam has his eyes and mind shut as he feels this-  _disease_ invade his body. He immediately feels nauseous and he grips the arms of the chair, allowing himself to pray for just a moment that his brother is about to burst through those doors.

But just like the rest of his life, his prayers remain unanswered.

"Tim, Reggie," He breathlessly calls after them as they head towards to exit. "This- this isn't gonna change anything." He swallows, knowing he may only be hammering in the nail in his coffin. "Steve's gone, and I-I'm sorry, but this isn't- mmph!" Sam tenses when Tim storms over to him and swiftly shoves a gag in his mouth, tying it tightly behind his head. A hand then snakes out and snags Sam's hair, harshly yanking it to the side.

"I've heard enough out of you, boy. If your mind ain't changed 'fore the time your brother shows up," He pauses, casting a knowing glance to Reggie. "Well, it won't be much longer after that. See you in a bit, Sammy."

Sam gives one final jerk in his bonds, emitting a furious but still so helpless cry after them as they slam the door shut, encasing Sam in foreboding and all too consuming darkness.

* * *

Clearly, there's a reason that no one should ever ingest demon blood this way. Not that anyone ever should drink demon blood to begin with, but this method is particularly gruesome. Droplets of sweat bead upon his forehead, but with his hands firmly restrained beside him he can't even wipe them away. But a little drop of sweat is the least of his concerns right now. There's also the ever-increasing nausea that's resulted in quite a few dry heaves, the unbearably tense  _thrumming_ through his very bones, an unending energy that builds and pulses every second, telling him to move, get up, get  _out_ get out get out-

The sound of the door creaking open makes him lift his head, and he has to fight to keep it raised.

"Showtime, kid." Tim announces as he makes his way behind Sam, sliding that same damn knife underneath his jaw. "I've got Reggie outside with your brother right now. I'm sure he's figured out by now that this is a trap, but he ain't gonna try anything since Reggie's told him that if I don't hear the codeword from Reggie before he comes in, I'm slitting your throat." The shuffling of feet down the corridor accompanied by clearly irritated, possibly pained grunts, causes Sam's heart to sink.

"All clear, buddy." Comes Reggie's voice as he rounds the corner, Dean being tightly pulled close behind. He's then shoved into a chair opposite Sam, in the centre of the room and various symbols, some of which Sam recognizes, and some he doesn't.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Dean is reeling at the sight of his brother's beaten face.

"Trust me, Deano, you outta be more worried about what we're gonna do to you if he doesn't do what we want." Reggie answers with a toothy grin.

"What exactly do you want with him anyway?" Dean can't ignore the panic he feels bubbling in his stomach. If these bastards know about Sam being Lucifer's vessel then there's nothing he can say that'll keep them from hurting him.

"He's gonna use his powers and take down whatever sons of bitches we tell 'im to."

It's then that Dean sees the I.V hooked into Sam's hand, and it doesn't take him long to deduce what's inside.

"You sons of bitches!" Dean seethes.

"Now, Sam," Tim speaks now, stepping in front of the shivering Sam and yanks the gag out of his mouth. "It's been a good while since we been pumping you full of the good stuff, you feeling up to showing me those special, little powers of yours?"

With the shape that Sam's in, Dean won't be surprised if Sam caves right there. Dean can't possibly imagine what could have been hours of forced demon blood consumption had done to his brother. So it makes him proud when instead of that, Sam defiantly lifts his head and spits in his captor's face. The pride quickly fades when Tim growls at the action and swiftly backhands Sam.

"Do it." Tim roughly orders at Reggie, who then nods and starts reading aloud in Latin from some book in front of him. Sam's not fluent by any means, but he's studied and seen enough spells to recognise the words for "summon," "hell," and "demon."

"You've made it pretty clear that you'll never use your powers for us," Tim is smirking now, looming over Dean's chair. "But I get the feeling that you might to protect someone else. We were gonna find that pretty, little thing from that bar of yours, but then your brother calling us was an absolute godsend!" He says, chuckling madly. "Now he's gonna help us motivate you." Before Sam could ask what he meant, Tim rips open Dean's shirt, and makes a cut on his chest. Right over his anti-possession tattoo.

By the time Sam's finally realised exactly what's happening, it's too late. The ground starts shaking, and a black cloud suddenly erupts from it, and then it beelines right for Dean.

Dean chokes on the demon's essence as it crams its way down his throat. His muscles tense, but slowly and against his will he feels himself begin to relax, though his mind is worlds away from relaxed.

"Mm, cozy." Dean says, but they all know it isn't him in there anymore. "Alright, looks like I've got two bondaged Winchesters, and two-" Dean tilts his head at Tim and Reggie, "Well, smells like alcoholism and childhood trauma in here, so you must be hunters! How'd Rocky and Bullwinkle piss you guys off?"

"Go ahead, Sammy." Tim urges, ignoring the demon. "Big brother needs your help. Exorcise the demon."

Sam's jaw clenches. Tim thinks he's won, but Sam is about to prove him wrong. He can still save his brother without using his powers. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immund-" He's cut off with a punch to his significantly bruised cheekbone, and then the gag is shoved back in.

"Enough screwing around!" Tim shouts right in Sam's face, spit landing on Sam's nose. Tim runs over to their table of torture implements and picks up a gun, cocking it and aiming it at Dean. "Last chance, Sam. Bullet'll kill your brother, but not the demon, and at this point I don't give a damn if you have to save an empty shell."

Sam jerks in his bonds, desperately crying out in fear for Dean.

"Five."

Sam strains harder against the ropes.

"Four."

A panicked whimper.

"Three."

A muffled 'please!'

"Two."

And then Dean gasps. A trail of black smoke trickles out of Dean's mouth, quickly followed by another. He is soon hacking up all traces of the demon, and he makes apologetic eye contact towards Sam. Dean doesn't blame him for this, he would've done the same for him.

"Holy crap!" Tim exclaims. "It actually worked! He can really do it!"

At that, Sam wearily lifts his head, now donning a bloody nose having not used his powers since killing Lilith. He huffs out a breath in protest, too tired for anything more.

"Sammy?" Comes Dean's voice, equally exhausted. It hadn't been for long, but being possessed was incredibly violating and truthfully it was downright terrifying. Sam's eyes shift to meet Dean's, and he gives a weak nod to signal that he's alright.

"Well," Says Tim. "Been a long day, boys. Got another big one ahead of us tomorrow, demons and monsters to fight and all, so we'll let you boys get some rest. Nighty-night."

It's much to Sam's dismay that they leave his gag in when they leave, since it'll make forming an escape plan a lot more difficult. Bastards.

"You okay?" Dean asks, knowing full well that the answer will be nothing more than a giant lie. Still, seeing Sam nod in affirmation makes Dean feel somewhat better. Sam then raises his eyebrow at Dean and makes a motion towards him, his way of asking the same question.

"Fine." Dean huffs out. "How long have they had you?" Sam just casts Dean a bitchface in response, since there's clearly no way for him to answer that. "Right, my bad." Awkward silence encompasses them for a few seconds before Dean asks, "Think they can hear us?"

Sam ponders the question, thoroughly scanning every inch of the warehouse ceiling for any indication that they were being watched. Upon finding nothing, he shook his head.

"Alright, good. Managed to get my pocket knife past them, but it's gonna be a minute before I can reach it. We'll be outta here soon, Sammy." Dean assures as he sets to maneuvering the blade out of his sleeve so it falls into his hands. If he's not careful, it'll fall on the ground and then they're both screwed. Barely a minute has passed before suddenly Tim's panicked voice echoes from deep within the building.

"What the hell?! St-stay away from me! No, no, no, no, no, o-oh  _God-!_ " The rest is nothing more than a helpless, ear-piercing shriek, and then dead silence. The brothers panickily look at each other, wincing at Reggie's war cry, followed by a sickening  _squelch,_ another scream, and then more silence. Neither of them is sure what to expect to walk through the door, so when an ordinary man enters, they're both slightly underwhelmed. That is, until Sam realises he's seen those icy blue eyes before in a dream.

Lucifer. Sam can't help but shrink back, more than slightly off-put by their predicament. Tied up, no back-up on the way, completely and utterly at the mercy of the most powerful being they've ever faced. So yeah, not their best odds.

"Sam." Lucifer greets. "Nice to see you again." He turns around to look at Dean. "Ah, Dean, we haven't officially met. I'm Lucifer."

Any other person wouldn't have noticed Dean's flinch, but Sam's been with his brother nearly every day of his whole life, he knows Dean's habits, even his often-times imperceptible ones. He knows that his brother is just as scared as he is.

"What do you want?" Dean practically hisses.

"Whoa, slow your roll there, cowboy, where's the fire?" Lucifer chuckles. "I just did you a pretty solid favour back there. Those two were giving you trouble, right? Well, now they're not." He smiles, and it's then that Dean becomes aware of the blood spattering Lucifer's clothes, but unsurprisingly the Devil seems unbothered by it.

"Yeah, great, okay, thanks. How'd you find us anyway?"

"Oh, that little demon Sammy exorcised? Told damn near everybody in Hell about it as soon as it got back. Grapevine's got a hell of a root in- well, Hell. They've got pretty strict instructions about letting me know if they run into you two." He flashes a sickly sweet smile that does nothing for Dean's nerves.

"Alright, well, thanks a bunch. I'd like to leave this crap-hole now if you don't mind."

Surprisingly , Lucifer shrugs. "Okay." He waves a hand and Dean's bonds suddenly far apart.

Dean's eyes go wide in confusion. "What?"

"Yeah, free to go. I'm not the bad guy here, Dean."

Dean remains frozen, waiting for what he believes to be the inevitable moment that Lucifer starts laughing and then tears him and his brother apart. But the moment doesn't come. So Dean stands up, gaze never leaving Lucifer until he glances over to his brother, gag and rope still keeping him subdued. "You gonna let Sam go too?"

When Lucifer sucks in a breath through his teeth, Dean feels his heart skip a beat. "Ooh, about that, buddy," Lucifer makes his way to Dean's beaten and bruised brother, resting all too casually on the chair he's restrained to. "Me and Sammy need to have a little chat."

"Not gonna happen." Dean says through gritted teeth.

Lucifer chuckles. "Dean," He says in a voice far gentler than Dean ever would have expected from the Devil. "You know who you're talking to, right? I mean, I could do the whole pitchfork, horns, perpetual hellfire thing, but I- I'm really not trying to scare you. All I want is to have a talk with Sammy."

"Mmph!" Sam butts in, clearly irritated. Lucifer looks down with a hint of sympathy, and waves his hand again, and then the rope and gag finally fall free. "Fine, you and I can talk, but you let Dean go first."

"Sam, no!" Dean interjects.

"Dean," Lucifer inserts himself into their conversation. "We both know I could just  _make_ you leave, but I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me. I just want to help your brother. Here, I'll show you." He snaps, and Dean feels the wound on his chest knit together, and when he looks at Sam all of his injuries have vanished as well. Alright, admittedly that was helpful, but Dean still had no intention of letting the guy,  _not a guy, freakin' Satan,_  anywhere near Sam.

"And what happens when Sam won't say 'yes?'" Dean points out.

Lucifer chuckles again. "I can be a pretty convincing guy. But Sammy's special, I'd never lay a finger on him."

If thirty years on Earth and forty years in Hell has taught Dean anything, it's that you can just as easily hurt someone without ever touching them. So long as Lucifer is alone with Sam, he's in danger.

"Alright, I'll let you talk to Sam." Dean caves, but before Lucifer can get too excited, he continues, "But I stay right here." When it looks like Lucifer's about to protest, Dean adds, "I won't say a word."

Lucifer's clearly unhappy, but he nods. Dean's assumed correctly that Lucifer won't hurt him or Sam so long as he's still riding this 'I'm not the bad guy' train.

"Just don't get all upset if I say something that hurts your feelings." Lucifer says with a sneer. "Although, I'm curious, what's with the one-eighty you pulled? Last time I heard, you didn't want to work with Sam anymore. What was it you'd said? Oh yeah, something like, 'pick a hemisphere. Stay away from each other. We're better off apart.'" He spit the words the same way Dean had, and Dean saw how the reminder of his harsh words made his little brother flinch. But beneath that, he can see how Sam was wondering the same thing.

"I was wrong." Dean admits, not looking away from Sam. "I-"

"Yeah, not your time to talk." Lucifer interrupts, and suddenly Dean feels himself forcefully but not painfully pulled back into the chair he was tied to earlier, but when he tries to make a noise in protest no sound comes out.

"Hey!" Sam calls out, clearly unappreciative of his brother's treatment.

"He's fine, Sam, just making sure he holds up his end of the bargain."

Sam scowls at the Devil and looks over to his brother, and feels a flood of relief wash over him when his brother gives an imperceptible nod towards the discarded knife on the ground. Okay, so Dean's got a plan. Sam just needs to keep Lucifer focused on him them.

"Alright." Sam takes a deep breath. "You wanted to talk, so talk."

Lucifer sighs now, and he sounds genuinely hurt by Sam's tone. "I promise you, there's no need for the attitude." He pauses, shaking his head a little. "I wish you didn't see me as a bad guy."

Sam's brows knit at that. "Isn't your plan to destroy the planet? Cuz that seems pretty bad guy-y to me."

"Not the whole planet, just the humans." Lucifer explains, because  _that_ just makes everything so much better. Lucifer picks up on the dislike of his statement, so he elaborates. "Sam, are you really gonna defend them? After what a bunch of humans just did to you?"

"They're not all like that." Sam protests.

"Maybe not, but they are all flawed." Lucifer argues.

"Yeah, and who turned them that way?"

Lucifer's jaw clenches. Ah, a sore spot then. "My  _Father_ is the one who made humans, flaws included, all I did was show them that they had a choice. Was that so wrong of me?" Lucifer seems- almost sad now. "The God you've believed in your whole life wanted mankind to exist without free will. Is that really fair? Is that really a world you would've wanted to live in?" Lucifer's icy eyes met Sam's, a sincere plea gleaming in them. "You were told how to live your whole life, always told exactly what to do, and who you were. But I can give you a whole new world of whatever you want. You'd get to be in charge of your own destiny. No more feeling helpless or out on control. A whole planet made exactly the way you want, Sammy. And all it would take would be one, little word. One word, and we build that new world together." He gives a soft smile, and he seems truly hopeful now. "So, what do you say?"

Sam understands now, why Lucifer was so sure he'd be able to simply talk him into saying yes. He's been inside Sam's mind, he's hunted and pinned down each and every weakness, exploiting Sam's truest fears and desires to make promises that would make Sam's life the way he's always dreamed of. And who's to say that Sam doesn't deserve that life? He's worked tirelessly to ensure that other people were always better off, but never himself. Why did he always have to be the martyr? Why isn't he ever allowed to be selfish?

But Lucifer was evil. He- he can't possibly mean all of what he said. He doesn't truly care about Sam, does he? He's just saying all of this as a means to the end. R-right?

As Sam opens his mouth to answer, a bright light fills the room, and when it fades Lucifer is gone. Sam turns to his brother that he had almost forgotten was in there with him. He sees the wound on Dean's hand, and then the angel banishing sigil painted onto the chair's arm.

"We gotta move." Dean says, and Sam nods in agreement. The pair hurry into the Impala and they start to drive away from that horrible place.

"You were pretty quiet back there." Dean says after a while of driving in silence.

Sam gives a slight frown. "What do you mean?"

"I mean during Lucifer's speech. I-I get why you wanted to listen. I know how much you hate feeling like you don't have a choice-"

"Dean, I wasn't actually considering it!" Sam insists to himself as much to his brother. "I was just keeping him busy."

"Alright, I'm sorry." Dean says sincerely. "But- I wouldn't blame you if you had been. And I know the way I've been acting doesn't make that any easier to believe, but I've just seen some serious crap that's made me rethink everything. You really never did have much choice in your life, even when it was just you and me. I always drive, pick the music, say how we should or shouldn't work a case. But I'm not gonna do that to you anymore. We're a team, Sammy, and- I- I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left."

Sam laughs dryly. "I shouldn't have started the apocalypse."

"Yeah, maybe not." Dean adds with a lighthearted chuckle. "Which is why you and I are gonna do everything we can until we figure out how to fix it. And we're gonna do it together."

Sam gives a small but genuine smile at that, and agrees with a nod. "Deal." He shifts uncomfortably in his seat as a wave a nausea overcomes him once more. "W-we're gonna have to go to Bobby's." He swallows, closing his eyes on the next word, thinking maybe he can shield himself from all the panic and pain it induces. "Detox."

Dean winces. After Lucifer showing up he'd almost forgotten about the demon blood. "Alright, we'll head to Bobby's. But Sam?" He waits for Sam to look at him for what he says next. "I'm not gonna leave you this time, alright?"

Again, Sam gives a soft smile. If Dean is going to be there with him, then Sam knows he can handle it. Detox, Lucifer, the end of the freaking world, they can handle it all, so long as they have each other.

"Also, I time traveled earlier." Dean throws out into the open.

"What?!"

Well, good thing it was a long drive to Bobby's, because Dean had a hell of a lot he needed to talk about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the longest one-shot I have ever posted so far. There was a lot to pack into this one, so Cheryl I hope I have met all of your expectations. And to everyone else, I hope you have also enjoyed! And if you have, or if you have a hurt!Sam Cage prompt, feel free to leave a review! I could write those two all day. And I have already gotten started on the next prompt, which means-
> 
> Sneak Peek: "But instead of a swift transition into their lesson, Lucifer sighs. 'Know what? I think I'll try something new today.'"
> 
> Until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> So what I'm hoping to have happen for the rest of this fic is that you guys will give me prompts for what you'd like to see happen next. I don't mind the chapters not being related, or even linear for that matter, so if you want to see Sam already broken, or right at the beginning of them getting trapped, or maybe when Lucifer starts to go a little stir crazy himself, anything! I will take torture prompts of just about any nature, but nothing that would push this story up to an M rating. Feel free to PM me prompts, or you can just leave them as reviews, whatever you would like. And if I don't get any prompts then I can just have this be a one chapter writing exercise, and I'll still be happy with that. But hurt!Sam fans, this is your chance to have me torture that boy in just about any way you'd like, so hit me up! I hope to hear from y'all soon!


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